


Together Forever; Never Alone

by Faetality



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26590516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faetality/pseuds/Faetality
Summary: A series of standalone ficlets for Nicky and Joe.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Together Forever; Never Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Hello I’m new to this fandom but these two deserve the love. Each chapter will have a summary
> 
> 1) Nicoló’s worst death was not his own. It was watching Yusuf’s.

Nicky knew it was temporary. Their deaths had always been temporary so far, would continue to be until the world decided their purpose was fulfilled. It did not make it easy. It did not relieve the pain. 

His first death came from a sword in his stomach. Deserved. More so than the death of the man with his own weapon lodged in his ribs. Yusuf. His love. His only love. It was not the worst death to have suffered, he had not drowned, had not been burned to ashes. But, His own deaths would never be the worst to suffer.  _ This.  _ The waiting for wounds to close on a still body whose hand had combed through his hair only that morning. 

That was the worst. Two centuries and _ that _ was the worst he had endured. 

They had been running, running for days on end when Joe turned and took his face in hand. “I am going to lure them away.” Fighting was not an option, not then, not without upsetting an entire country. He would do it for his lover- would not blink if asked to kill every man on horseback being them; the people of the city did not deserve to starve though. And so he closed his eyes, pressed lips to the others, and let him go. 

It was the scream that made him turn back. Forced his legs faster and faster until he came to the cliff edge. A spear through his chest, bloody hands wrapped around the wood as he stumbled back. The guard jerked the spear back and Nicky watched as one foot then the next took his love over the edge. There was no thought in his next action. He did not care any longer for the repercussions or the pain. They had not died so many times as they might have in their time together. After they made peace the frequency of deaths visits upon them were no more than once in a decade. Most of the time. 

His blade slit the guardsman’s throat and then he was falling as well. The water was cold but it took but a minute to reach the shore and drag his broken bones onto the ground. Another moment before he could stand. 

“Yusuf?” His voice cracked. He coughed and called again. “Yusuf?”  _ There.  _

Broken on the rocks was a body. He had not the fortune of the river to catch him. 

Nicoló knelt close, his hands hovered but he could not touch. Bones twisted and cracked, stark and startling where they jutted from the skin. Blood spread over the rock and his touch to the man’s skull let his fingers push too far. 

_ “Oh my love, please. Please, you must heal for me.”  _ A minute passed. “ _ You cannot leave me, Yusuf. You mustn’t do this to me, I cannot bear it. Amore …” _ his words caught and tears welled. He had not cried… he had not cried since his mother died. When he returned to his home only to find a grave, too late to care for her in favor of a cruel invasion. 

Brown eyes open but Nicky can’t find his words again. 

“ **It hurts.** ” His Arabic was still poor but he understood. The words became a whine and then a gasp. He was awake though, he was healing. Bones shifted back into place and Nicky clutched a bloody hand between his own, lips pressed against the knuckles. 

“ **You are crying, for me?”** Yusuf began to sit and swallowed a scream as his spine moved. He pushed through. 

“You… you were not healing. I thought you gone.” This was still new between them. They had not acknowledged when sharing a bed for warmth became a search for comfort or when a simple goodnight became a kiss. It was wrong of them. Yusuf lays his forehead on the Italian’s shoulder. 

“I would not leave you, Nicoló. Not until you tire of me and the seas are dry. I am yours, just as you are mine.”

They followed the river until they could not anymore. The sky was darkening by that time and the two men found shelter in a shallow cave with a small fire. 

“ _ Amore _ .” Nicky looked up from the flames. “You called me amore.”

“Yes.”

“Come here, Nicoló. I desire your company.”

His heart beat strong beneath Nicoló’s ear and he took great comfort in it. No matter how many times their hearts would stop they would end up back here; together. 

**Author's Note:**

> Posted as soon as finished, mistakes are my own


End file.
